Since New Jersey is a state where a lot of asbestos-related work was done, the citizens and businesses of our state have a keen interest in ensuring that the system that has been set up to compensate asbestos victims is not undermined by fraud and abuse. To that end, the New Jersey Civil Justice Institute is supporting Congressional efforts to rein in fraud in the existing system via H.R. 526, the Furthering Asbestos Claim Transparency (FACT) Act of 2015. Continue reading
Fairness. Justice.
Rule of Law.
Tag Archives: Bankruptcy Trust
Fraud and Abuse Abound in Asbestos Cases
Last year’s eye-opening decision in the case In re Garlock Sealing Technologies, LLC was shocking. We had long suspected that asbestos plaintiffs and their attorneys were gaming the system in order to increase their recoveries, but we had no idea just how big of a problem it was. Garlock showed that mitigating evidence had been withheld in almost all the cases brought against it over the past decade, but was the same thing happening in cases brought against other defendants? Continue reading
Haddonfield Lawyer Admits to Doctoring Asbestos Suits in N.Y. to Increase Business
Jessica Beym | South Jersey Times
A former attorney in the Haddonfield office of a firm specializing in toxic tort litigation today admitted that he falsified defendants’ names in more than 100 asbestos suits filed in New York State courts in order to increase business and his standing in the firm, according to U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman.
U.S. Chamber Highlights Litigation Concerns in New Jersey
The latest report from the U.S. Chamber’s Institute for Legal Reform highlights litigation trends from across the country, and not surprisingly New Jersey is cast in an unfavorable light. New Jersey is noted as a hot spot for asbestos bankruptcy trust fraud and false claims act litigation. In addition, the report claims New Jersey is second only to California in the number of food related class action suits filed in the state, thanks largely to our state’s 6 year statute of limitations. Continue reading
Court Exposes Abuse by Plaintiff Attorneys in Bankruptcy Trust Litigation
One of NJCJI’s top priorities for 2014 is advancing legislation that will bring transparency to bankruptcy trust litigation and discourage fraud so that settlement dollars are available to legitimately injured parties. The desperate need for this legislation was most recently illustrated by a ruling from U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge George Hodges revealing the “tort system was infected by the manipulation of exposure evidence by plaintiffs and their lawyers.” Continue reading